Homemade Solution To Get Rid of June Bugs and Stop Them From Eating Your Garden

It’s June. Across the country, we are in the middle of growing season and working hard to enjoy the “fruits and vegetables of our labors.” That is, until a garden eating pest comes along. That pest is called a June Bug (a.k.a. June Beetle) or simply just a beetle, pest, etc.

Well, my friend Debbie has a GREAT tip and homemade solution for ridding your garden easily and without causing further damage or chemicals in your garden.

What’s the best way to get rid of them? The June Bug Bath!

Just a mixture of soapy water. Then slap ’em into it with a gloved hand, with the container of soapy water under to catch them. They will fall into the soapy bath and then you are rid of them without spraying or hurting your garden at all! While they are in high peak season, you may need to do this morning and evening throughout the month of June. They are called “June” bugs for a reason.

How to make the soapy solution:

Squirt 1 TBSP of dishwashing liquid (the BEST is the classic blue Dawn) into 2-3 cups of water. Mix until nice and bubbly (or squirt the soap in an empty container and fill with water creating the soapy mixture).

Mix the solution in a square Tupperware container since it is easier to handle than a bowl and has more area – the corners help in tight spots when trying to slap the June bugs into the solution!

That’s it! That’s all it takes. Then you can naturally get rid of these pests without harming your garden at all.

Yep, those are Japanese beetles. That is a great, organic way to get rid of them, though. I use that method a lot. I stopped growing roses and hollyhocks because they are magnets for Japanese beetles. ? What we always called June bugs in Georgia are much bigger than Japanese beetles, although I don’t see as many of them now as I did when I was younger. They do have a similar look, though.

In Ohio, June bugs come from the lake & die after a day. There are so many that they have to be swept up. Lights in the town & outside of homes are turned off during June to keep them away. Beetles are not what we call June bugs.

The photo posted of a “bug” is what we identified as a Japanese Beetle – and they decimate gardens (veggie or floral) around here!
PS: Our chickens LOVE to eat them, so we grab & throw them in a deep plastic container, then shake them out in the chicken yard to treat our layers! The hens never miss a one.

June bugs start out as grub worms and then fly around your outside lights and are dead the next morning. If you spray your yard for grub worms you get rid of June bugs. You also get rid of moles. They eat on the worms!